


Hoodie [Attack on Titan/SEEUS AU]

by Rich_Ramblings



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Campus Security, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Modern Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan, SEEUS, nontragicauinwhichmarcodoesntdie, riveting snapchat story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-04-09
Packaged: 2018-10-17 00:48:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10582938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rich_Ramblings/pseuds/Rich_Ramblings
Summary: Boundaries are hard in relationships, and college doesn't make it any easier.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Get out your map of campus kiddies

“I can’t believe you came out here,” Marco whispered hoarsely to Jean as he pushed open the door of Pray-Harrold to let him in, “It’s...You know...Really cold out there.” The other boy shrugged as he came inside, opening his mouth to speak before pausing as he saw the reason for Marco’s hushed tone.

“The fuck? Is he sleeping?” Marco looked over his shoulder to where Eren sat on the bottom step of the stairs, leaning against the wall and snoring quietly. Marco almost made a quip about how Eren snored even when he was awake but decided to only nod.

“Being posted is pretty boring.” The young man admitted, looking down at his watch. “You could probably tell from my...Riveting Snapchat story.” Only half an hour of the five hour shift had passed, and that brought him back to Jean. “You know I don’t get off until one, right? What are you doing here?” He gestured around the stairwell, encompassing all it had to offer, including the fire alarm and the small stand of campus newspapers, which Marco had already read through in his boredom.

“Well…” Jean looked down and scuffed the road salt stained toe of his boot against the equally filthy ground, then looked up with the shyest smile Marco had ever seen on his smug face. “I heard there was a cute SEEUS employee who was a little bored and saddled with a napping coworker.” For a moment Marco almost wished he was outside in the negative nine degree weather so he could blame the blush he felt immediately spread across his face on the cold. Instead he laughed nervously and looked away, trying to ignore the way Jean’s shoulders slumped as soon as he did. The two stood in silence for a moment until Jean muttered. “And I guess...I have nothing to do.”

“Yeah. Me too.” Marco said glumly, walking back to the corner where he’d been leaning before Jean had arrived. The two freshmen stood in awkward silence, allowing Marco the time to think and agonize over the past month.

It had started with the one walk, then had turned into the one date, and then another, and then another. Marco had lost count of the little things they’d done together, as much as they could on a college kid’s budget. Jean had grumbled the entire time Marco had taken him on a ‘date’ to the Eateries, but it couldn’t be helped.

There’d been the shaky conversations, the awkward flirting, and the uncertainty. Lord above, the uncertainty. Neither of them had said it, and whenever they’d been somewhere not covered on meal plan they’d split the bill evenly, but it was clear they wanted to be more than friends. Or, at the very least, Marco wanted that. Did Jean? On some level he knew he did, but it almost scared him. In the end, it came down to Marco waffling and feeling guilty about stringing Jean along. He couldn’t be surprised if Jean got fed up with it.

Marco chanced a glance up at Jean, who was leaning against the wall and looking out the glass door at the silent, snowy, and deserted campus. If it wasn’t for Eren snoring loudly on the bottom step, they could have been the only two people in the world. Marco opened his mouth to say something when Jean piped up.

“What are we?” He asked quietly, looking over his shoulder. Marco’s words died in his throat upon seeing the hurt in his hazel eyes. He stammered for a moment, then looked down and shrugged.

“Human?” He replied lamely. He could hear the scowl in Jean’s voice, even if he couldn’t bring himself to look at him.

“That’s not what I mean.”

“I...I Know, Jean. I’m sorry.” The freckled boy sighed and pushed his hands down into the deep pockets of his vibrantly yellow SEEUS jacket. He only looked up when he heard Jean walk toward him. When he did, he found Jean halted in front of him, arms crossed over his chest. He didn’t have to be a nonverbal communications major to know Jean was pissed. He swallowed nervously.

“Listen...I...I’m…” Jean shook his head and looked over at Eren, the lowered his voice even further. “I’m into you, okay? If I hadn’t made that abundantly clear. And...You know, I kind of thought you felt the same way. Or did I completely misread when you gave me your number? And don’t you dare tell me it was just so I could get my stuff back.” The way he was shifting his weight back and forth between his feet was almost painful for Marco. He took a deep breath before replying quietly.

“I think I feel the same way.” He said, smiling slightly and hopefully at Jean. His reaction was not as great as he would have liked.

“You think? Fucking...Okay. Fine!” Marco felt an aching in his chest at the curt word, and had to stop himself from reaching out and grabbing Jean as he strode back toward the Pray-Harrold exit doors.

“Jean! Wait!” Marco winced at how loud he’d been, but much to hs surprise, Jean did just as he asked and halted. He didn’t look back at Marco, but he didn’t leave, either.

“What is it?” Jean asked cooly. Marco tried to find the words he wanted to say, but succeeded only in looking like a fish out of water, gasping and working his mouth around the words he couldn’t say. Eventually he gave up and let his shoulders slump forward, already cringing back against the words he knew Jean would say. Jean, to his merit, didn’t say any of what Marco had expected. Instead, he very softly went on.

“How about...Do you want to spend the night?” Marco’s throat went dry, but he nodded, then realized Jean couldn’t see him and that’d been a stupid thing to do.

“Yes.” His strangled reply came.

“You get off at one. I’ll be waiting in the lobby to let you in. And...Um…” Jean cleared his throat as he pushed open the door and took his first step back into the freezing night. “My roommate is out of town.” With that, he walked off and let the door get blown shut behind. Still in shock, Marco watched his retreating form until he disappeared around the corner. It took a second for him to breathe again.

“I think...I think I almost broke up with him. And we’re not dating.” Marco shook his head and looked over at the stairs, and just about screamed when he made eye contact with a very much awake Eren. “W-w-wha- How long have you been awake?”

Eren yawned and rubbed his eyes. “Since ‘I’m into you, okay?’” He chuckled as he stretched out his legs. “‘My roommate is out of town.’? Doesn’t sound very straight to me, man.”

Marco tried to stutter out a response. It was becoming a habit, the whole wanting to say something but being too overwhelmed to do so. Eren eventually waved his hand.

“Calm down, dude. I’m not gonna be an ass about it.” He yawned again and drew his knees up to his chin, clearly planning on going back to sleep. “Have a good time, is all I’m saying. And communication is key. And use protection and all that jazz.”

Before Marco had time to get his blushing under control and ask Eren what he meant, he was already snoring away. Marco sighed and leaned against the wall. Whether his heart was beating fast out of fear or excitement, he couldn’t tell.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marco stood outside of Hoyt hall, wringing his stocking cap nervously in his hands as he looked up at the tall building. Should he just walk in and text Jean or would Jean actually be waiting? And should he have run back to Downing to grab overnight stuff or was it really okay for him to just show up? Taking a deep breath of the steadying night air, he swung open the first door and strode in as confidently as he could. As soon as he had, he set eyes on Jean through the second, locked set of doors. He was sitting on the front desk and chatting to the Nightwatch worker, but looked up in surprise at the quiet sound of a knock on the door. He smiled, more warmly than Marco would have expected, and hopped up to let him in.

“You’re a little late.” He said, stepping aside to let Marco in and shivering a little at the gust of cold air that came with him.

“Yeah, sorry. We got a call for a walk right at the end of shift.” Marco handed his EID to Nightwatch and cleared his throat awkwardly, not knowing the level to which the air was cleared between the two of them. He was a little surprised, though. He hadn’t ever really seen Jean this casual, and wouldn’t have pegged him for the type to wear his pajama pants around other people.

“You’re all set!” the student working Nightwatch said cheerfully, handing Marco his card, “Have a good night.” Marco nodded and smiled, then followed Jean to the elevators.

“What floor do you live on?” Marco asked as the doors slid shut, then felt stupid for the umpteenth time that night as Jean answered his question with the press of a button.

“Tenth. It kind of sucks but...We have vaulted ceilings?” Marco made a small grunt of acknowledgement, not knowing what else to say, then shifted his feet awkwardly as the elevator slowly rose. When they finally got to the floor and the doors slid open again, Marco fanned his face with his hand, hit almost immediately by the warmth.

“Whoa...I guess heat really does rise, huh.” Tugging uncomfortably at his scarf, he followed Jean to his room. It was cleaner than he’d expected.

“You can go ahead and take your stuff off,” Jean said casually, striding in and forgoing the main light switch in favour of the strand of Christmas lights, Marco noticed, were strung around the walls on what he presumed to be Jean’s half of the room, then halting and wincing as he turned back around. “That sounded...Bad. I meant um...Like your bazillion layers. It’s gotta be uncomfortable. So you can strip down to- Fuck, I mean take off your clo- I’m just gonna stop talking.” He rubbed the back of his head and looked down, the discomfort evident in everything from his burning face to the way he crossed one foot behind the other. Marco wouldn’t admit it but he found it all so very endearing.

“It’s okay, Jean. And uh...Don’t mind if I do.” He set about kicking off his boots and dropping his hat, scarf, and mittens in an unceremonious pile on the ground along with three of his shirts and his work pants. That last gave him some pause until he remembered he was wearing Under Armor. Much more comfortable in his t-shirt and hoodie, he smiled at Jean, still a little unsure of himself. “So uh...I’m not very good at this.” He prefaced uncertainly, hands fidgeting.

Jean chuckled and glanced around, seeming to be looking for something other than Marco to focus on. “M-me neither. I’m not...I know I’m not the friendliest guy so I haven’t really...Had a lot of friends. Or girlfriends. And no...No boyfriend. Ever. And I start rambling when I’m nervous.” He cleared his throat and looked significantly at Marco, who found his gaze skittering off again. Why did he keep doing that? He was here to make amends, after all. He forced himself to look back up at Jean just as the other boy closed the distance between them and wrapped him in a hug. Marco was so caught off guard he almost fell, but managed to maintain his balance at the last moment.

“Whoa there I-” Jean hushed him by shaking his head.

“You don’t have to say anything. Please don’t. Not now I...Fuck, I’m being freaking cheesy.” He let out a self deprecating laugh, then pulled back far enough to make very significant eye contact with Marco. “I have some stuff I want to sort out. With you. About us.” Wordlessly, Marco nodded. He wanted that, too. He watched as Jean broke away and ran a hand through his hair, letting out a long breath, then nodded to himself, then hopped up on his bed and patted the spot next to him. The embarrassment must have showed on Marco’s face because Jean bit his lip and looked at him pleadingly. “I’m not going to do anything. Unless you want it, I mean.” He assured the freckled boy quietly, face burning. Taking a deep breath himself, Marco nodded and hopped up next to him, scooting back until he was leaning against the wall. He pulled his knees up to his chest and took a deep breath, resting his forehead on his knees and rolled his head over to look at Jean, who was still apparently finding it difficult to look it him. Marco chuckled, drawing the other boy’s attention. Jean also broke out into a smile.

“Look at us...” He said, voice still breathy with laughter, “We’re a mess, you know?” Marco nodded, then hesitantly reached his hand out toward Jean. Jean seemed to take the hint and quickly, albeit shyly, laced his fingers with Marco’s. “See it’s like...This isn’t something I’m...I’m not used to it.”

“You haven’t dated someone before?” Marco enquired quietly. Lord knew that was the case for him. Jean shook his head, looking up at the vaulted ceiling.

“I have but...Only girls. It’s different, you know?” Marco couldn’t quite put his finger on it but something seemed off about that. He stiffened slightly, but made himself relax. Why did it need to be different? He wanted to say something but didn’t know what. The silence hung in the air between them until Marco felt like he was going to scream.

“So um...Uh...Y-you know that one coworker I’ve told you about a few times? The guy who just walks SEEUS employees to make quota? Well there’s this new rule that we can only walk employees one time and he...Jean?” If Marco’s heart could sink any further it did just then. Jean was looking at him with the most betrayed and disgusted look he could fathom.

“You’re changing the subject again,” Jean said exasperatedly, pulling his hand away from Marco and sighing, “You always do that when I’m trying to be serious.” Jean turned his face away, looking out the window and down at the courtyard between the three Towers.

“I do not!” Marco protested, leaning over and placing his hand on his friend’s shoulder. It killed him that he couldn’t think of him as his boyfriend, even quietly in his head.

“No. You do.” Jean said curtly, but Marco noticed he didn’t shake off his hand. Marco took a moment, grounded himself, and then scooted closer to Jean, leaning his head cautiously against his shoulder. After a moment or two, Jean turned his head to rest his chin on the brunette's head.

“Okay...Fine. I won’t.” The two boys sat in silence again, this time for much longer. The only sound was the faint humming of the Christmas lights and the rambunctious shouting from the courtyard below, that seemed unending, even after one in the morning. Part of Marco wished they could stay like this forever, no need to put a label on something that felt good and whole, but a larger part of him knew that wouldn’t be possible. Apparently Jean agreed.

“Are we dating?” He murmured into Marco’s hair, sending a shiver down the other boy’s spine. Marco wanted to give it some thought but was afraid of hurting Jean, so he blurted out his response.

“Of course! Of course we are…” Already he felt the weight of the decision settling in his stomach, but he pushed it down and tried to focus on the feeling of Jean’s warm body leaning against his.

Jean let out a laugh that sounded equal parts relieved and surprised. “Thank God! I was worried about that.” Jean’s swallow was audible. “So then...C-can I...You know…” Marco didn’t know, but he found out soon enough as Jean shifted and turned so they were facing each other. Marco hunched his shoulders up and leaned against the wall, steadying himself. And then suddenly Jean was so close and he was so fast and Marco could smell his cologne and the only thing he felt was panic and the only thing he could do was let out a strangled squeak and jerk back so quickly his nose collided with Jean’s forehead. Immediately his hand came up to cover his throbbing nose and he scrambled away from Jean, looking at the other boy in panic as he felt blood drip out from under his hand and begin to stain his hoodie.

“Fuck!” Jean swore, whatever anger he must have been feeling replaced with panic and concern as he reached out toward Marco, then stopped when he saw the freckled boy flinch back. His outstretched fingers closed into a tight fist and his arm dropped. “I-I’m sorry, Marco. Just hang on a sec, okay? Um…” Marco watched, eyes welling up with uninvited tears, as Jean hopped off of his bed and started frantically looked around his room, running to the bathroom and rapping on the door loudly. Hearing no response, he flung open the door and waved Marco over. “Don’t...Don’t tilt your head forward, right? No no no you’re supposed to tilt- Fucking shit. Hell I don’t fucking know just uh...Please be okay.” Said nothing for fear of getting blood in his mouth but carefully scooted off of the bed and walked quickly to the bathroom, where he leaned over the sink and kicked the door shut with his foot.

He finally started to grasp the situation as he watch droplets of blood fall one after the other into the white sink.

_He tried to kiss me, didn’t he? Of course he did, you doofus. What else would he have been doing. But why didn’t he ask? He sorta did but...Well I guess I would have been embarrassed, too._

Marco glanced up at his reflection in the mirror and almost puked. It really was a pretty terrible nosebleed, not to mention how awful he looked with his face flushed bright red. He diverted his attention back to the sink, which was a lot more tolerable. _I hope his forehead is okay. How do I fix this? Do I just apologize? He caught me off guard but I would like to kiss him. Right? I do, don’t I? He won’t want to, not after this. I’ll taste like blood._

His mind sufficiently stuck in a loop of worry, Marco went through the motions of trying to stop his nosebleed, and eventually emerged, cautiously as always, from the bathroom. Jean was sitting on his bed, staring down absently at a hoodie his his hand, but he looked up when Marco cleared his throat.

“Um...Sorry about that.” He mumbled awkwardly, tugging at the hem of his bloodstained sweatshirt. “Do you want me to leave? Because I understand if…”

“Do you want to stay?” Jean asked equally shakily, standing up and holding out the hoodie. “If you want um...I’ll wash yours so you can borrow this for now.” Wordlessly, Marco nodded and pulled off his sweatshirt, handing it to Jean before pulling on the other one.

“I um...I’d like to stay.” He muttered, examining a loose thread on his left sock. Without waiting for an answer, which seemed appropriate considering he hadn’t waited to think before speaking, he turned and hopped up onto Jean’s roommate's bed. From what he’d heard, the guy was sort of a piece of work, so he didn’t feel too bad about it. Also it was still cold as all get out so he wasn’t about to hike back across campus to Downing. He’d rather do the walk of shame in the morning. “Goodnight.” He said quietly, rolling onto his side with his back to Jean. He heard some rustling sounds and then the sound of Jean climbing into his bed. Marco bit his lip and pressed his face into the pillow, noticing it smelled disturbingly strongly of hair gel.

“I know you’re mad,” Jean said at length, and the other boy had to force himself not to say anything. Sleeping people didn’t say anything, “But...When you walked me back that one time you took a really round about way. I know my way around campus. I dunno I thought...I thought maybe that meant something.” With that, Marco saw the warm red glow from the strand of lights go out. He squeezed his eyes shut and willed himself to fall asleep quickly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Are you really smoking this early in the day?” Marco asked, equal parts concerned and surprised as he made his way down the ice covered steps to what was generally accepted to be EMU’s Weed Vent. The level below the Eastern Eateries used to be known as Kwik Fix, a place where SEEUS employees could grab food during shift, but for reasons not apparent to anyone on campus it had been closed down, leaving only the heating vent the campus stoners smoked at every night, or in this case, late morning. Eren shrugged, reaching the bottom of the stairs and quickly striding over to the vent, crouching down next to it and pulling his backpack off.

“I work at night. It’s not really an option for me.”

“I guess…” Marco replied uncertainly, crouching down as far away from Eren as he could while still being warmed by the vent. The smell of the smoke made him sick. Eren, apparently noticing the distance, dropped his lighter back into his backpack and sighed, coming to a full sit on the ground.

“You look like hell, dude. What’s up? Date with lover boy didn’t go well?” The freckled student shook his head, then shrugged, then yawned and looked at Eren pleadingly. He’d spent a restless night in Jean’s roommate’s bed, then ran off before Jean had woken up. He felt like a coward for that, but guilty for stealing his hoodie. Eren sighed, running a hand through his messy hair. “What did I tell you last night?”

“Um...I dunno?”

“Fuck I was hoping you’d remembered.”

“Do you come to work high on a regular basis?”

“...Okay it was something like...Talk it out? Communication is key! That was it. Did you try talking to him?”

“Yeah I did but then...He tried to kiss me and like...I-I can’t...I just…” He cleared his throat and shook his head, fiddling with a pebble on the ground next to him. “Am I just being too wishy washy? Should I just do it?” He glanced to the side to see Eren shaking his head so rapidly Marco was sure he’d get a headache.

“Hell no, man. Don’t do that. It’ll be just that but then…” Eren gesticulated as he tried to find the words, and Marco had to remind himself that this was the guy who swore he’d become the best doctor in the world and eliminate all forms of illness. Despite himself, he smiled. “You’ll keep going farther, right? And you’ll end up doing something you don’t want to. And that’s...That’s bad. Really bad.” Eren nodded once and crossed his arms over his chest, looking inordinately pleased with himself.

Marco chewed his lip, thinking about it. Eren was right. Surprisingly, he gave some pretty solid advice a lot of the time. “What should I do in the meantime, do you think?” Eren raised his eyebrows and frowned, tilting his head back against the wall.

“Bake me brownies for dealing with your emotional romantic bullshit and give Jean some space. Maybe text him saying you won’t apologize and explain why? You really don’t have anything to be sorry about, man.”

Marco nodded, staring in front of him, then standing up with a small “Hup!” and smiling gratefully at his coworker. “Thanks, Eren. I owe you one.”

“Three. You owe me three.” Eren corrected, refocusing his attention back on the content of his backpack.

Chuckling softly, Marco nodded and stuck his hands into the pocket of the hoodie. “Three. Got it. See you.”

“SEEUS.” He heard faintly from behind him as he started up the stairs.

Almost exactly as he got to the top, his phone pinged with a text notification. His stomach sank when he saw who it was from. Since he was in Jean’s phone as “Mittens”, he’d found it appropriate to put him in as “Jeans”. He was fairly certain his friend-slash-maybe-boyfriend didn’t know.

_im so sorry about last night. i washed ur hoodie. if u dont want 2 see me, i can drop it off at the front desk of Downing. i understand._

Marco sighed and started typing a reply when a second message came through.

_i really fucked up last night. i shouldnt just assume stuff._

Marco stared at the screen for a few seconds longer, then pursed his lips and tapped out a quick reply.

 _You’re right._ He wanted to say more but Eren was right; he didn’t have anything to apologize for, as difficult as that was to him to accept. He tucked his phone into his pocket and started walking back to Downing, half a mind to take a detour to the Commons and drown his sorrows in ice cream from the newly fixed machine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next couple of days passed in a very muted way for Marco. The student hadn’t realized exactly how much time he’d been spending with Jean until he was actively avoiding him. That wasn’t all that easy to do on a campus as small as EMU, but he did his best, and was becoming an expert at spotting that distinctively confident gait from a mile away. He’d also been spending time with Eren, and was consequently learning a lot more about the less than legal activities that went on in the dark nooks and crannies of campus. It wasn’t that Marco judged what went on in the vents and abandoned parking lots, but he couldn’t deny that it scared him, so most of his time not in class was spent holed up in the library or curled up in bed.

Jean had texted him several times since Marco’s brief reply, but Marco hadn’t read or answered any of them, and his hoodie remained suspiciously absent from his resident hall’s front desk. Maybe Jean needed space, too, or maybe he was mad. Or maybe, as Eren had suggested, he wanted to keep the hoodie. If that was the case, Marco couldn’t blame him, because he himself hadn’t returned the one he’d borrowed.

He craned his next to look at the lettered front, but it was difficult from his position curled in a ball in his loft bed. Scrunching up his face, he buried himself deeper in the blankets. It was a Friday, he had no classes, a load of homework, and work that night but all he could bring himself to do was stare at the wall and count how many ceiling panels there were. He could tell his roommates were getting worried about him.

As though he’d summoned him, Marco suddenly felt a large, warm hand on his back and smiled weakly, not rolling over. “Hey, Bertholt. How’s it going?”

“I’m fine, I was more worried about you.” Came the soft reply. He was a lot more soft spoken than one would expected from a guy that big. Marco shrugged, finally mustering the energy to roll over and look him in the face. He must have looked a lot worse than he remembered because his roommate had to blink a few times before forcing the smile back on his face. “You want to talk about it at all?” He asked carefully, adding a, “Dude?” after a few seconds. That made Marco chuckle a little bit as he shook his head.

“No, it’s fine. I just need to get over myself.”

“You might start by answering his texts.” Both Marco and Bertholdt looked toward the door to the common room at the unexpected voice. Their suite mate, Armin, stood there, nervous smile on his face. He pushed back his bangs and took a step into the room, looking up at Marco in his loft. “He um...Oh gosh I don’t know if I should tell you but…” The nervous Honors student took a deep breath, then went on. “He showed up at the office while you were out on shift last night, hoping to catch you. We...We just about called your group to walk him. From...The station to Hoyt.” Armin winced. The two buildings were approximately fifty feet from each other. “But we figured...As much as the supervisors are invested in your campus love story, we should let you be.” Marco stared at Armin for a moment or two, then buried his face back in his pillow, letting out a muffled scream.

“Does everyone in my life know about this?” The words weren’t even fully past his lips before his roommates starting nodding. “Dagnabbit. I really need to pull myself together, don’t I?” They didn’t stop nodding. Marco pressed his face into his pillow for one last, good, scream before sitting up and scooting to the edge of his bed, feet dangling as he looked at Armin and Bertholt. “Should I call him?” The two other students looked at each other, then Bertholt shrugged.

“Either that or go see him. Which do you think would be better?” Marco leaned forward heavily, running his fingers through his atrocious bedhead.

“Probably call him. If I see him all sad I’ll apologize for everything.”

“Which you don’t have to,” Armin said quickly, “You’ve done nothing wrong.”

“How did you-”

“Eren. I wouldn’t tell him anything you don’t want his friends, coworkers, and distant relations knowing. I’m sorry.” Armin took a step backward as though anyone in their aggressively passive home would retaliate. Marco shook his head.

“It’s fine. I’ll um...I’ll do that right now.”

He jumped off his bed and looked eloquently at Bertholt, who seemed to get the hint and made himself scarce, closing the door behind him after a whispered, “Good luck.”

When Marco finally unlocked his phone and looked at the thirty two messages from Jean, he was charmed to see the majority of them were dog memes. He’d mentioned once or twice (or maybe six times) that that was what he looked at when he was in a bad mood. Interspersed within the variations on “who’s a good boy” were long and heartfelt apologies, and one text that looked suspiciously like a haiku with a botched syllabic scheme. Steeling himself, Marco leaned against the wall and pressed the call button, breath hitching after the first couple of unanswered rings. When the call was at last picked up, Marco heard in the background what sounded suspiciously like a body falling out of a bed.

“Marco?!” Jean sounded half asleep, but unhurt enough.

“Did I just hear...Are you okay?”

“Yeah! Yeah I’m great, how are you? Wait, one sec.” Marco heard the receiver being muffled by a hand, presumably, and quiet cursing in the background, then a door slamming. “Okay, I can talk now. Marlowe was a little upset.”

“I heard. I didn’t know his name was- Wait. This isn’t why I called.” Marco shook his head and rapped his knuckles against the wall behind him, trying to stop the jittery feeling.

“I know. Marco, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it would...I didn’t realize it would be a big deal.”

“Do you typically kiss people that quickly? Without asking?” Marco tried to keep the cool anger out of his voice but feared he hadn’t been entirely successful. He hissed a breath out through his teeth, squeezing his eyes tightly shut before he spoke again, “I’m not going to apologize for anything except ignoring your texts and keeping your hoodie.”

“I know, and that’s fine.” Jean said quickly, and Marco could perfectly picture him waving his hands, like he always did when he got worked up while talking. “I’m in the wrong but I miss you and I want to see you and I want to hold you and I want you to tell me it’s okay to kiss you and and and...I’m a jerk.”

“You’re not a jerk you’re just...Overzealous.” Marco said slowly, smiling a little. “And I’m scared. You’re used to this but I’m not.” He clenched a fist and let it go, switching his phone to his other hand and looking down as his flushed and sweaty palm. “I’m not saying I’m sorry. I’m just explaining. I’m not...Comfortable right away, you know? I can talk to you and I like spending time with you and, on good days, I can flirt with you. But physically...I can’t. Not beyond holding hands with you. Not yet. Does that make sense?” Marco heard a faint rustling on the other end and assumed Jean was nodding.

“It does. I mean...I can’t relate but I get it. And I’ll respect that.” Marco let out a long breath of relief he hadn’t realized he was holding and slipped down the wall into a sitting position. “So um...Can I see you today? Want to go on a date?” Marco grinned, pulling his knees up and resting his chin on them.

“Are we going to the Eateries?”

“You know it. Unless you’ve got a better idea?”

“If you want to come over, I have a couple dozen brownies to bake, actually.” Marco glanced at his watch and was surprised to see it was only ten in the morning. He would have expected it to be later.

“I’ll head right over. I can bring you back your hoodie, too.”

“Keep it.” Marco said before he realized he was speaking. “I’m not giving back this…” He finally looked down at the lettering and read it upside down. “ ‘Junior Equestrian League’? I didn’t know you liked horses. But keep that one.”

“Are you sure?” Jean asked uncertainly. He heard a door slowly squealing open in the background.

“Yeah. It’s...It’s a boyfriend hoodie.” There, he’d said it and now it was official. _Boyfriend_. He liked the sound of it, quietly in his head.

“Fucking sweet,” Jean exclaimed from the other end of the line, followed quickly by the sound of something soft thumping against the phone. “Hey Marco?” Jean’s tone was a lot more serious now.

“What is it?” Marco asked, stiffening a little, expecting something bad.

“Thank you. For putting up with me.” Marco’s worried features broke into a smile and he let out a laugh that sounded like a bark.

“Of course. I like you, you’re talented and cute and…” He rubbed the back of his neck, wondering if he should do it. Knowing he’d get an exasperated groan in response, he finished, “I can SEEUS together.”


End file.
